Skirt-measuring device.



No. 655,960. Patented Aug. l4, I900.

1 E. E. CUNNINGHAM.

SKIRT MEASURING DEVICE.

(Application filed on. 20, 1899.)

(No Model.)

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UNr'rE DY STATES.-

ATENT EMMA E. CUNNINGHAM, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

.' SKIRT-MEASURING DEVICE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 655,960, dated August 14, 1900.

7 Application filed October 20,1839. Serial No. 734,218. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

a citizen of the United States, residing at West Newton, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Skirt-lVIeasur-ing Devices, of which the following is a full, clear,

and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in explaining itsnature.

The invention relates to the herein described device for taking the measurements for a skirt from the body of a person and from, which measurements the pattern from which the skirt is to be cut is draftedor made.

of peculiar characterwhich is adapted to be adjusted to the waist of a person and by the act of adjustment to measure the circumfer ence or size of the waist and upon the adjustment to indicate in inches the size of .the waist; also, in a second measuring-band arranged about five inches below the waist measuring band and adapted to be adjusted about the person being measured at the hips and which upon being adjusted will indicate in inches the size of the person at the hips, the said hip-measuring band being movable in its supports.

The invention further comprises vertical tapes for measuring the length of the person from the waist and hips downward and which tapes are detachably secured to the waistmeasuring band and are also horizontally adjustable thereon. These tapes are also arranged to support the hip-measuring band and to be extensible near their lower ends and to indicate upon their adjustment their length. Any desired number between the back and the frontupon one side of the device may be used. I prefer to employ five or six, and each one will indicatethe necessary length to be given the pattern and skirt upon the line of the body over which it extends.

The device aside from measuring the waist,

is reversible and isemployed to first provide measures for one side of the body and then by being turned to provide measures for the other side, where it issupposed for any reason that the sides of the body are unequal in size. Otherwise the measurement of one side Iof Fig. 1. fthe dotted-line 6 6 of Fig. 1. The invention comprises a measuring-band the other side or half. Referring to'thedrawings, Figure 1 is a View in perspective ofmy measuring device,, representing it in the form in which it'would appear when in use. Fig. 2 is a view, enlarged, of a portion of the waist-band, also showing the upper ends of two of the measuring-tapes attached to the waistband. Fig. 3 is a view in section, enlarged, upon the dotted line 3 3 of Fig. 1'. Fig. 4 is aviewin section upon the dotted line t 4 of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is a view infsection upon the dotted line 5 5 Fig. 6 is a View in section upon A represents the waistmeasuring-band. This band is of any flexible material, and it is adjustable as to length 7 and has means whereby its ends a a" are detachably secured together. A buckle attached to one end with which the other end may be engaged will an swer. I prefer, however, to make the engagement by means of separable fasteners of the ball-and-socket variety, any desired number of ball members a being securedv to the outer surface of one end of the band and a corresponding number of socket members 0. being attached to the inner surface of the other end of the band and the members being closelyarranged. The outer surface of the band is divided by lines into inch-spaces, which may be subdivided intofractions of an inch, and each space is numbered in any desired order, the purpose of this measure being'to permit the size of the waist, ininches and fractions thereof, to be read from the measuring-band after it has been adjusted and also to'permit the tapes for measuring the lengths to be'properly spaced with respect to each otherabout one side of the body. The waistband also bears means by which the measuring-tapes are detachably secured thereto and made horizontally adjustable thereon. Any desired means may be employed for this purpose; but I prefer to use the ball-and-socket fastener and that the ball members be attached to the waistband closely together throughout its length and that the sockets be secured to the upper ends of the measuring-tapes upon their innersides, so that the measuring-tapes will be attached to or half-will answer for the measurement of Be it known that I, EMMA E. CUNNINGHAM,

the outer-surface of the waistband. (See Fig. 3.) This provides an easy and desirable method of attaching the tapes to the waistband and also of permitting them to be detached and removed either to the right or the left, according as the waist may vary in size.

B represents the various measuring-tapes. 1) represents their engaging devices mounted upon the waistband, and b the engaging devices which are mounted upon their upper ends. These measuring-tapes B are extensible at their lower ends by means of the independent take-up tapes B, and these take-up sections B are movable vertically upon the lower ends 12 They are attached thereto to be vertically movable in any desired way; but I prefer a frictional holder of the nature represented in Fig. 5 and which in substance comprises a fiat sleeve 0, permanently attached to the ends b and having a sleeve 0, through which the upper end I)" of the sections B extends, and which sleeve has a frictionspring 0 to bear against the said upper end. This provides a structure which will permit of the easy vertical adjustment or movement of the tape-sections B to any extent desired and will also serve to hold them in place after said movement and will also by their upper or tab ends afford means by which they may be readily moved, and the act of moving or adjusting them at the same time causes the measure to be moved, so that at the end of the movement the measurement of the tapes may be instantly taken. 'All of the upper sections of the measuring-tapes are of the same length, and each of the .lower sections has upon its outer face a division into inch or other spaces and each of which may bear appropriate numbers, preferably indicating inches. These numbers begin at the lower end of each and increase as they extend upward, and the measure is read at the line of intersection of the upper end of the said lower part of the tape with the lower end of the upper part of the tape. For instance, in the drawings the said lower ends have as their lowest figure 29 at their lower end andthey run upward to about 40. The 29 indicates the shortest skirt that could be measured. In the drawings the measure is represented as adjusted for a skirt forty-three inches in length at its front. The tapes also support the hip-measuring strap or band D, preferably bymeans of the loops (7, attached to the front sides thereof about five inches from the waistband and in which the hip-measuring band may be drawn horizontally. This band is represented as extending from the rear tape B, which should be at the center of the back, and is adapted to measure the size of a person about the hips, and it bears upon one or both of its surfaces figures indicating its length, preferably in inches.

In use the measure is applied to the body in the following manner: The waistband is adjusted to the waist. Its adjustment will immediately indicate the size of the waist by means of the indicating-figures upon it. The tapes are attached to the waistband, preferably beginning at the center of the back and being spaced from that point as desired. The lengths of the tapes are then adjusted by the adjustment of the lower ends thereof and preferably with respect to the floor, and the lower sections of the tapes may be provided with lead or other weights at their ends, if desired. The hip-measuring strap, which is supported by the tapes, is drawn sufficiently taut to make it conform to the section of the body against which it bears. The various measures, as before stated, are obtained in these adjustments and are then taken or read olf and will provide information by which accurate patterns may be drafted from which the skirt will afterward be cut, as it will determine accurately the waist measurement, the hip measurement at a predetermined distance below the waist, and measurements for the length of the patterm or skirt on all needed lines between the back and the front at predetermined intervals or spaces apart. The other side of the body may be measured, if'desired, or its measurement obtained by duplicating the measures of the half which is measured.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States 1. As an improved article of manufacture, the measuring device for drafting skirt and similar patterns, and skirts, comprising an adjustable waist-measuring band having'attaching devices located thereon at equal dis tances apart, length-measuring tapes, vertically adjustable as to length and each provided at its upper end with an attaching device whereby it may be attached to one of the attaching devices carried by the waistband and be horizontally adjusted in fixed positions thereon, and a hip-measuring strap supported by said measuring-tapes and horizontally movable with relation thereto.

2. In a measuring device for providing measurements for skirt-patterns and skirts, the length-measuring tapes having means at their upper ends for detachably securing them to a waistband, and each consisting of two sec,- tions of tape and a connecting-clamp, in which one section is adjustably movable vertically with respect to the other, each tape being free to hang vertically at its lower end as and for the purposes set forth.

EMMA E. CUNNINGHAM.

Witnesses:

F. F. RAYMOND, 2d, J. M. DOLAN. 

